Spinning on Darfur, Silent on Hutu Militia FDLR in DR Congo, Failures of DPKO Under Ladsous

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, May 22 -- Six days ago a report publicly presented at the UN showed that UN Peacekeeping under Herve Ladsous has allowed civilians to be killed with no reaction. 

  How have Ladsous and the UN responded? Ladsous has not taken much less answered any questions. On May 21, as an example, Inner City Press asked UN Spokesman Stephane Dujarric:

Inner City Press: I want to ask about Darfur and also about the DRC ( Democratic Republic of the Congo). In Darfur, the Radio Dabanga is reporting that residents of the Kalma camp have given an ultimatum to UNAMID (African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur) to begin protecting them or they will block these irregular patrols. One thing that they said is that UNAMID policeman two weeks ago ran at the first shooting by militia men and so this seems to tie in to this report that was just done by OIOS (Office of Internal Oversight Services) to the Fifth Committee about failure to protect civilians. Can [the Department of Peacekeeping Operations] confirm that [UNAMID] policemen… the article says that UNAMID has apologized to the Kalma camp residents but is it true? And what’s the response?

Spokesman Dujarric: We’ll check.

Inner City Prss: And also there are reports in eastern DRC that the FDLR (Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda), rather than being neutralized is, in fact, increased attacks in Lubero and North Kivu. There’s a news service there reporting on in specific --

Spokesman: If I have an update on DRC I will share it with you.

  While there still no answer on the FDLR -- perhaps not surprising from Ladsous' DPKO, given his history, here -- on Darfur, Dujarric came back on May 22 with this, from the transcript which for some reason edited out a flippant introfrom Dujarric:

Yesterday, Matthew, you asked about two letters from NGOs [non-governmental organizations] and political parties. We’ve checked again this morning for you and we cannot ascertain that we have received such letters at the Secretariat.

And on Dafur you asked yesterday about Kalma camps in Darfur and I have the following for you: On 19 May, on Monday, some internally displaced civilians in Kalma camp reportedly stole goats belonging to Arab nomads. In a mediation efforts by UNAMID (African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur) on 20 May, the internally displaced persons agreed to compensate the Arab nomads. Within minutes of leaving the UNAMID Camp, Arab nomads reportedly shot and killed a 30-year-old Fur internally displaced person and injured another. In retaliation, the internally displaced surrounded the patrol site of UNAMID police and accused it of inaction.

  Compare this is the report / allegation in Dabanga:

“Saleh Eisa, the Secretary General of Kalma camp... said 'The Unamid chiefs emphasised that the most important task is protection of civilians. They would seriously consider the demand for a protection unit at the camp. They also apologised for the behaviour of the Unamid policemen two weeks ago, who had fled Kalma camp at the first shooting by militiamen.'”

The background is in a UN report presented in the Budget Committee, even blandly written up by Ladsous' scribes without mentioning who is responsible. But consider these since Ladsous took over the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in 2011:

August - September 2012: Attacks on civilians by armed group in Katoyi, North Kivu (MONUSCO) Killed: >112. Action under Ladsous? No. After: Human rights investigations launched

4 January 2013 Intercommunal fighting over disputed access to gold mine (UNAMID) Killed: 100 Action under Ladsous? No. After: Government officials transported to area to “defuse tensions”...

8 February 2013 Attack on community in Wangar, Jonglei State by armed elements from rival community (UNMISS). Killed: >100. Action under Ladsous? No. After: Investigation launched. Communities and national authorities actively engaged to “prevent retaliation.”

3-6 April 2013 Intercommunal fighting in parts of Central and Southern Darfur (UNAMID) Killed: >100. Action under Ladsous? No. Aftter: Inter-agency assessment mission protected,,.

July 2013 Intercommunal violence in several locations in Pibor County (UNMISS) Killed: >328 Action under Ladsous? No. After: Investigation launched....

22-30 July 2013 Intercommunal fighting in Central Darfur (UNAMID) Killed: 150 Action under Ladsous? No. After: Humanitarian aid to displaced civilians facilitated

8-22 August 2013 Intercommunal fighting in Eastern Darfur (UNAMID) Killed: 500-600 Action under Ladsous? No. After: “Technical and logistical support” provided...

  And this is not even including the more recently failures in South Sudan, and rapes by Ladsous' partners in the Congolese Army in Minova, and subsequent impunity.Ladsous refused to answer Press questions on any of this. Why is he still in his post? #Ladsous2014. Watch this site.

   

On Darfur, US Condemns Sudan's Attacks in Nyala, Herve Ladsous' UN in NY Quiet, He Met Bashir in July 2013

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, March 8 -- Amid attacks on civilians in Darfur in late February, and the blocking of African Union - UN peacekeepers of UNAMID from accessing the sites, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations under Herve Ladsous in New York had said little.

   Back in July 2013 Ladsous met with Sudan's president Omar al Bashir, indicted for genocide in Darfur by the International Criminal Court, but has refused to say why, despite critiques from some human rights groups, the Press and implicitly Fatou Bensouda, prosecutor of the ICC.  This is Ladsous: film & UK.

  On the morning of March 8 US State Department Spokesperson Jen Psaki issued this statement:

We are deeply concerned by the recent escalation of violence by the Sudanese Government-supported Rapid Support Forces (RSF) in Darfur. The United States strongly condemns attacks on civilians and calls upon the Government of Sudan to prevent further violence and to cease its own campaign of aerial bombardments.

On February 27th, the RSF, with media reports of support from the Sudanese Air Force, burned homes and attacked civilians outside of Nyala, resulting in multiple casualties and thousands of displaced civilians in Darfur. On February 23rd members of the RSF attacked and robbed internally displaced persons from the Kalma Camp in South Darfur, according to media reports. The Government of Sudan has refused to allow UNAMID peacekeepers access to the area to investigate these incidents.

We urge the Government of Sudan to uphold its commitments and allow UNAMID peacekeepers unhindered and immediate access to these areas, as mandated by the African Union and the United Nations.

The people of Darfur have suffered insecurity, violence and atrocities for far too long. Together with the international community, we urge the Government of Sudan and the armed movements active in Darfur to begin an inclusive and comprehensive political dialogue to achieve a peaceful resolution to the conflicts in Sudan and reestablish the rule of law.

   But where is Ladsous' DPKO? 

  Back on February 4, Inner City Press asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's lead spokesperson Martin Nesirkyabout a full-on critique of UN Peacekeeping's Darfur mission by its former spokesperson, Aicha Elbasri:

Inner City Press: On Darfur, maybe you have something on the Government ordering the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) to suspend operations. And I also wanted to know if there’s any response from the UN to former UNAMID [African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur] spokesperson Aicha Elbasri. She’s gone public, saying basically that, while serving as spokesperson of UNAMID, she wasn’t given information; that the Mission under-reports abuses of civilians and other developments in Darfur. I wanted to know, what’s the response of the UN to that?

Spokesperson Nesirky: I’d have to check with the Department of Peacekeeping Operations on both of those.

  So, respecting that, Inner City Press waited. The answers weren't directly provided by e-mail as the UN does with other, but read out at the noon briefing, apparently to see if anyone else might report more positively on them (no one did)

"we were asked about reporting by the African Union–UN Mission on developments in Darfur. UNAMID notes that it reports verified information on the situation in Darfur to the United Nations and to the African Union on a daily basis. This information is then made public in the Secretary-General’s quarterly reports to the Security Council and, as the situation warrants, in press statements."

  To a casual or ill-informed listener, it sounded like a legitimate answer. But as the UN and its Department of Peacekeeping Operations under Herve Ladsous know, this is part of Aicha Elbasri's critique:

"On 24 April I resigned from UNAMID and wrote my end-of-mission report requesting the Department of Peacekeeping Operations to look into UNAMID’s violations of the UN Public Information policy which calls for open, transparent and honest information-sharing with the media. I didn't receive any response. On past August, I requested the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services to open an investigation into the matter. The information I shared with them should have made anyone who cares about the people of Darfur and the UN values and policies jump, call me and take a quick action. What I received so far is a deafening silence. And I can no longer wait, because every day that goes by, more men, women and children die in Darfur in total impunity and invisibility. So today I will break the UN code of conduct and share with you some confidential photos and information that show the African Union, the United Nations and UNAMID’ conspiracy of silence."

  Surely Ladsous' DPKO (and Carman Lapointe's OIOS) know what Aicha Elbasri submitted. But the public response was as set forth above.

  Ban Ki-moon tried to send his former speechwriter Michael Meyer to Sudan as communications chief of UNAMID; it never happened. Now Meyer is in Nairobi, "dean of the graduate school of media and communications at Aga Khan University." On the ICRC, Inner City Press checked and has found that inquiry was made - by the ICRC, not the UN -- with Sudan's "HAC." We'll have more on all this. Watch this site.

   

In Sudan, As Kalma Sheikhs Pardoned & Leave UN, Only Leak of Gambari's Plan Prevented Torture, US on Juba Beatdown?

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 28 -- Eleven months after the UN came close to turning over to Sudanese authorities for punishment five sheikhs in the Kalma camp in Darfur, the five were finally pardoned and went home without being punished.

Given that the punishment foreseeably would have included torture if not death, the aborted turnover is viewed as having saved them.

In late September 2010, Inner City Press was leaked a copy of the turn-over agreement that the UN and AU Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari was negotiating with Sudan. The only safeguard that Gambari was seeking was a commitment to not execute the sheikhs.

Inner City Press published the draft agreement. The next month while covering the UN Security Council's trip to Khartoum, Juba and Darfur, Ibrahim Gambari approached Inner City Press in the El Fasher camp of UNAMID and called the leaker -- and presumably the publication of the document -- "irresponsible" and having "put lives at risk."

When the chairman of the UN Committee Against Torture Claudio Grossman came to the UN not long after, Inner City Press asked him about what Gambari had been doing, and he said no one in the UN system should turn anyone over to a government, like Sudan's, which tortures. Video here, from Minute 23:25.

As it turns out, the leak and publication seemed to have saved the sheikhs.

At the same time as the sheikhs are being pardoned -- by the local wali, for Eid al Fitr -- Khartoum has sentenced to death a commander of the Darfur based Justice and Equality Movement, El-Tom Hamed Toto, for a joint attack with the SPLM-North in Southern Kordofan.

Footnote: one wonders if the US will "welcome" the pardoning of the sheikhs. Recently the US State Department found time to welcome the dubious ceasefire announced by Omar al Bashir for Khartoum, while as yet seeming to say nothing about the UN's top human rights official in South Sudan Benedict Sannoh being beaten by ten South Sudan police while he lay in the fetal position. We'll see.

In Iraq, UN Negotiates to Take Over USAID Site, Ditch Bunker, Malcorra Confirms

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, December 20 -- Contrary to previous UN plans to build a mega facility in Iraq, dubbed the bunker, the new plan is to take over a USAID site in Baghdad once the US leaves next year, UN official Susana Malcorra confirmed to Inner City Press on Monday.

Inner City Press reported last week, when US Vice President Joseph Biden was at the UN for an Iraq meeting, that the UN's Advisory Committee on Administrative & Budgetary Questions had urged that the UN stop paying on a $5 million contract with an architectural consultant hired for the bunker.

Ms. Malcorra on Monday said that negotiations to terminate the contract are ongoing with UN Procurement, and that she would not comment further on it. But she did answer Inner City Press's request for confirmation of the plan to switch to the USAID site. This was discussed in closed door ACABQ consultations, but not mentioned by USAID name in their report. Malcorra said yes, USAID.

Still unconfirmed by the UN are reports that US troops now provide security to SRSG Ad Melkert. Watch this site.

Footnote: Ms. Malcorra declined to answer Inner City Press' request for an update on the negotiations by Ibrahim Gambari in Darfur to turn over five sheikhs in Kalma camp supportive of Fur rebel Abdel Wahid Nur to the government of Omar al Bashir, indicted for war crimes. We will keep asking.

On Darfur, As UNAMID Withholds Tabarat Report, Le Roy Says It's Public

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, December 15 -- Amid complaints that the UN - African Union Mission in Darfur does not investigate or publicly report the murder of civilians there, top UN Peacekeeper Alain Le Roy on Wednesday told Inner City Press that the problem is Sudan's government granting access.

Le Roy acknowledged continued lack of access to Jebel Marra. He claimed, however, that UNAMID reports on killings like at Kalma Camp and Tabarat, where UNAMID peacekeepers refused to go despite requests from the families of those being slaughtered in September. Le Roy said that the UN's reports, including on Tabra, are public.

But UNAMID, which after Inner City Press' visit to Darfur in October has refused to answer e-mailed questions, has answered another request for its Tabarat report with the following:

"A report on the Tabarat incident was sent to UN Headquarters in the days following the event. This internal document is classified as UN Restricted, thus not for public dissemination. There are no plans, at UNAMID level, to release it.”

Inner City Press asked Le Roy why the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations would refuse to release its report on an incident like Tabarat. Le Roy did not answer, instead claiming that such reports are public. They are not. And this is a problem.

While Le Roy was genial, he also did not answer Inner City Press' request for an update on the plans of UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari, exposed by Inner City Press, to hand over to the government of Omar al Bashir five sheikhs in Kalma camp who support Fur rebel Abdel Wahid Nur.

Le Roy did not address what the US has announced as the postponement of any referendum for Abyei, nor the bombings of Southern Sudan by Khartoum's air force.

On December 14, Inner City Press has asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky:

Inner City Press: Scott Gration yesterday said that, apparently after this… after having conferred with both parties, that the Abyei referendum will not take place 9 January. And I am just wondering, I’ve asked you this before, what’s the UN, given its role in… under the… in the process, does it acknowledge the seemingly now conceded fact that the referendum in Abyei will not take place 9 January?

Spokesperson Nesirky: What we’ve said is that there is a commitment by all to adhere to the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and to the timetable that is implicit in that. Everybody recognizes the difficulties that there are with regard to particular part of the equation; and nobody is suggesting it is easy. Those who are involved in this from the United Nations side are obviously pushing to help to ensure that things remain on track. As I have said before, and I’ve just repeated just now, no one is suggesting this is easy. It is obvious that there are difficulties there, and I know that many players in this are trying to find a way that this can be tackled so that everything remains on track.

Inner City Press: Also on Sudan, there are these, at least 200 Sudanese refuges being deported by Israel. There’s a number of media outlets who are reporting this today, quoting an unnamed Israeli source confirming what others had said. There seems to be a UN involvement. The UNHCR is quoted as saying as being involved and an unnamed NGO. They are being deported through a third country and back to Sudan since having been in Israel would cause them problems in Sudan. But what I am wondering is, is it the UN system’s position that it’s safe for these people to return to Sudan, and what do they make of what some people are calling, you know, forced or refoulement of Sudanese refugees back to Sudan at this time?

Spokesperson: Well, I have seen the reports, I don’t have anything specific on that. Please do try UNHCR to see if they have anything direct to tell you.

Inner City Press: I guess, because of the Sudan… the DPKO and peacekeeping presence, whether they have a position on the safety of the return of these people.

Spokesperson: Well, Mr. Le Roy will be here tomorrow.

But when Inner City Press on December 15 put the question to Le Roy, first Nesirky cut in to refer the question against to UNHCR. Then Le Roy seemed to say that those returning to Sudan, even from Israel, will not face any harassment. We'll see.

Footnote: While allowing other media questions on two countries, Nesirky pointedly told Inner City Press, one question only. Therefore questions such as DPKO's seeming lack of planning before withdrawing from Birao in the Central African Republic, and other questions about the Cote d'Ivoire mission and about Somalia were not possible. Watch this site.

As UN Gambari Plans Hand Over to Bashir in Sudan, Torture Complaint Mulled at UN

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, October 19 -- Could the UN, or the chief of its peacekeeping mission in Darfur Ibrahim Gambari, be on the verge of violating the UN Convention Against Torture?

Inner City Press asked the chairman of the UN Committee Against Torture Claudio Grossman this question on October 19, referring to the leaked documents showing Gambari's plan to turn over five supporters of Fur rebel Abdel Wahid Nur to the government of Omar al Bashir, accused of genocide, war crimes and, yes, torture. Video here, from Minute 23:25.

Grossman answered that “as to the UN system... no one should be sent to places where he or she will be tortured.” Video here from Minute 30. He cited this prohibition to Article 3 of the Convention.

Inner City Press asked, but if a complaint is filed about Gambari's and the UN's pending turn over of five people to Bashir, how would Grossman's Committee Against Torture process it? Video here, from Minute 30:20.

Grossman said that while in one sense the Committee's work is limited to member states, there is creative lawyering. Not only other venues such as Working Groups and the Special Rapporteur on Torture, but also “journalism can play a role,” he said.

So one wonders why the SLA, or someone on behalf of the Kalma Five, doesn't start raising the question as an anti-torture issue, using Gambari's draft -- which contains no assurances on this -- as the basis for the complaints? Watch this site.

In Darfur, Sora Destroyed and Kalma Dismantled Before Blind UN Council Visit

By Matthew Russell Lee

KHARTOUM, October 9 -- In the week before the UN Security Council arrived in Darfur, the village of Sora “was completely burned down” as part of “intense ground fighting and aerial attacks in Eastern Jebel Marra.”

These quotes come from a UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report which was left on the bus of the Press covering the Council's visit.

But the destruction of Sora, and the systematic dismantling of the Kalma Internally Displace Persons camp, were not highlighted to the Council ambassadors by the UN's Humanitarian Coordinator for Sudan, Georg Charpentier.

Inner City Press asked two Permanent Five members' ambassadors, after the Council's final press conference, about the destruction of Sora and dismantling of the Kalma Camp. One had never heard of Sora's destruction, despite briefings ostensibly on humanitarian issues in Darfur.

The other, who said that the dismantling of Kalma Camp had not been discussed, took interest in the wording of the OCHA document Inner City Press quoted from, that the destruction was either from ground fighting or aerial attacks. Which one? Not that the UN Security Council would imposes a no fly zone at this point over Darfur or South Sudan.

The document was brought to and left on the press bus after Inner City Press asked Charpentier why he had not been more vocal about the government's blockage of the Kalma Camp during the summer, and the lack of humanitarian access to Jebal Marra from February to September of this year, and now again, after a single assessmentmission to parts of Jebal Marra.

Charpentier replied that the blockade of Kalma Camp has been “exaggerated” by the media. Of Jebel Marra, he said that food was not a problem but rather blankets, since “it gets cold up there.” He did not mention the destruction of whole villages like Sora, either to the Press or it seems to the Council.

Many in the humanitarian and journalistic communities have doubts about Charpentier's even handedness -- the former saying he tries to assuage Khartoum by saying little, the latter that he has checked his press releases with Omar al Bashir's Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Joseph Lual Achuil. (Charpentier has denied this, but a higher UN official tells Inner City Press it is true, during “this sensitive period.”)

But that the Security Council Ambassadors did not themselves zero in on conditions in Kalma Camp, which has suffered violence then the blockage and now a stand off in which the UN's Ibrahim Gambari is negotiating with the Al Bashir regime to turn over five supporters of Fur rebel Abdel Wahid Nur for show trial and punishment, exclusively reported by Inner City Press, is troubling.

Regarding this impending and unprecedented turn over, a Western diplomat speaking to Inner City Press on Saturday on condition of being identified this way -- that is, on background -- said that “Professor Gambari conveyed to me and others this is an issue the UN continues to work on, in discussions with the government and the UN is committed to dealing with this in a fashion consistent with its principles and international humanitarian law and that's the basis on which they continue to negotiation and discuss.”

This is discussing turning over government opponents to a strongman indicted by the ICC for war crimes and genocide, with the fig leaf that said president's promise not to execute those turned over make it comply with international humanitarian law and the UN's principles.

Is the failure to follow through the the dismantling of the Kalma IDP camp, and the failure to do anything about the destruction of the entire village of Sora in the week before the Security Council came to Darfur, consistent with the UN's, OCHA's and the Security Council's principles? Watch this site.

In Darfur, Gambari Criticizes Nur & Inner City Press on Video, Transcription Here

By Matthew Russell Lee

DARFUR, October 8 -- Peacekeepers were sent to Darfur after reports of a brutal campaign by the government of Omar al Bashir against opponents of his regime and civilians perceived as supporting them.

Now top peacekeeper Ibrahim Gambari, as shown by documents leaked to and published by Inner City Press, is near to turning over five supporters of rebel Abdel Wahid Nur to that same Bashir regime, in exchange for a promise by Bashir to commute any death sentence his courts impose.

Several members of the UN Security Council, which ostensibly oversees Gambari's actions along with the African Union, expressed surprise to Inner City Press once they saw the leaked documents, consisting of a draft letter and “Additional Terms” from Gambari to Bashir's foreign minister Ali Karti.

On the UN plane Thursday to El Fasher from South Sudan, US Ambassador Susan Rice told Inner City Press that she intends to inquire into Gambari's offers about the Kalma Camp Five while in Darfur. This echoed a statement of intention previously issued by another Permanent Member of the Council.

After a closed door meeting with the visiting Security Council members, Gambari and two of his military officials, in uniform, came to see the Press. Gambari called Inner City Press' publication of his draft documents “reprehensible” and told Inner City Press to “be careful... lives are at stake.” Transcription below.

Yeah, a witness to Gambari's statements later said, the lives of the Kalma Camp Five are at risk if the UN turns them over to a strongman already indicted for genocide and war crimes. “Is this what the UN should be doing?”

Gambari, Lyall Grant, Susan Rice, Churkin- oversight not seen? (c) MRLee

Gambari's statements to Inner City Press were caught on video and will soon be published online as such. For now, here is a transcription, prepared late Thursday night at a guest house in El Fasher outside of Gambari's UNAMID compound:

Inner City Press asked Ibrahim Gambari, “What's happen with the Kalma Camp Five that you are considering turning over to the government... or that documents indicate you are considering turning over?”

Gambari answered: “Here is the situation. We have these five sheikhs who have been accused of some very serious offenses. We have no means as UNAMID to try them... Down the line if ever there was a death sentence, the President has the prerogative of mercy. All has been discussed confidentially. I want to say how reprehensible it was that somebody leaked the confidential communication of the government of Sudan...endangering the lives of those in the camps. The recipient of such a leak I think should also think twice about what they do considering that they are endangering the lives.. We've lost 27 peacekeepers between UNAMID and UNMIS, I mean AMIS.”

Inner City Press asked about Abdel Wahid Nur saying that if the Five are turned over, it will make UNAMID complicit in genocide, and that his group would not cooperate with the UN any more.

Gambari responded, “you quote words Abdel Wahid was supposed to have said... I met Khalil Ibrahim yesterday, asked how about how someone said JEM wants Gambari to resign for Tarabat Market. [He said he] ever said that, never authorized this... I want to hear from Abdel Wahid. I've been to Paris twice, I went to Tripoli...What happened in New York I condemn it. Matthew I have known you a long time, you should be careful... You are a recipient of a leaked document... Journalism also is a responsibility. I regard you as a friend, I used to, I regard you as a friend, I am admitting that.”

Of Abdel Wahid Nur, Gambari said: “He wants all issues resolved almost before he comes.”

“Matthew, I'm very angry with you , what are we supposed to do, keep people indefinitely?”

Inner City Press said, “Several Security Council members, when they saw the leaked documents, said they were not aware that you or UNAMID were in such discussions, and some expressed worry. How much is this Mission overseen by the Security Council?”

Gambari said “Ask them. Ask the S-G. I am responsible to two masters. You have the AU and you have the UN. The unity of the international community is key to finding a solution.”

Inner City Press said, as Gambari backed out the door toward his vehicle, “Transparency you can always say is dangerous, but I think it's probably a good thing.”

“No,” Gambari said. “Believe me, lives are at stake.”

Or maybe jobs, a witness to Gambari's statements later said, adding that the lives of the Kalma Camp Five are at risk if the UN turns them over to a strongman already indicted for genocide and war crimes. Among other lives put at risk, without oversight, transparency or explanation. “Is this what the UN should be doing?” Watch this site.

Footnote: it's worth noting that even before Inner City Press obtained and published Gambari's draft letter to Sudan's Ali Karti, Gambari had already expressed anger at Inner City Press' publication of other leaked documents concerning his time as UN envoy to Myanmar.

That time, before the UN's September 24 high level meeting on Sudan, Gambari didn't argue about lives being at risk. He claimed the documents were “old” (2009) and not newsworthy. “Just leave me alone,” he said, having in the past declined to respond to questions sentto his UN e-mail address by Inner City Press. Now, the claim that lives are put at risk. Is it just opposition to transparency?

And see, www.innercitypress.com/gambari2kalma100810.html

In Darfur, Gambari Attacks Publication of His Kalma Turn Over Documents, Says Press Puts At Risk

By Matthew Russell Lee

DARFUR, October 7 -- Hours after the UN Security Council and accompanying media including Inner City Press arrived Thursday at the joint African Union - UN Mission in Darfur, the Joint Special Representative Ibrahim Gambari came to visit the Press. Inner City Press asked Gambari about the turnover of five supporters of Abdel Wahid Nur documents obtained and published by Inner City Press show he is considering.

Gambari responded angrily that the leaking and then publication of the documents puts people at risk. Inner City Press responded that others believe that the turnover would put people at risk, not only the five individual's turned over, who even as to execution would be relying on a promise by Omar al Bashir, already indicted for genocide - but also for UNAMID's own peacekeepers.

As quoted by Radio Dabanga, Abdel Wahid Nur has said that if the turnover occurs, he and his movement will view UNAMID as complicit with the genocide Bashir has been indicted for.

Inner City Press asked Gambari about what Abdel Wahid Nur told Radio Dabanga. Gambari responded that he does not believe quotes he reads -- Dabanga is, of course, a radio -- and gave as his example a recent talk with Khalil Ibrahim of JEM in which, Gambari said, Ibrahim said JEM had never called for Gambari to resign. Self-serving?

Gambari said he was criticizing the Press “as a friend.” But to attack a publication for publishing a leak about the possible turnover of five people to one accused of genocide and war crimes seems strange. As Inner City Press said as Gambari left, several Security Council members had no idea Gambari was engaged in such negotiations. One Permanent Representative of a Permanent Five Council member told Inner City Press that, after checking with “the capital,” the issue would be raised on this trip. Susan Rice of the US said it would be looked into during the visit.

“I have two masters,” he said, the African Union as well as the UN and its Security Council. So does Gambari confer with neither? Or with the African Union more than the UN?

In the room in which Gambari meet with the Council Ambassadors, two hagiographic photographs are hung on the wall: the UN's Ban Ki-moon, and the AU's Jean Ping.

By having two masters, does Gambari answer only to himself?

Or as some say, to a resident of Khartoum, which Gambari reaches by Lear Jet?

In Darfur, UN Prepares To Hand Over Bashir's Enemies for “Blood Money- Exclusive

By Matthew Russell Lee, Exclusive

UNITED NATIONS, September 28, 2010 -- In Darfur, the Joint African Union - UN peacekeeping mission UNAMID is preparing to turn over to the government of Omar al Bashir five supporters of rebel leader Abdel Wahid Nur who have been “accused by Sudanese authorities of having committed crimes,” as shown by UNAMID documents obtained by Inner City Press.

For two months the government of Bashir, who has been indicted by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and genocide, has demanded that UNAMID and the UN turn over the five, who “sought refuge in the Community Policing Center of the Kalma Camp for Internally Displaced Persons” after an outburst of violence in the camp.

Bashir's government imposed a blockade on the camp, not allowing in food or fuel or medicine, and now seeks to close down the camp.

A draft letter from UNAMID chief Ibrahim Gambari to Sudanese Foreign Minister Ali Karti recites that Bashir's government “explained its position of principle that Sudan has the right to apply the death penalty as such a penalty is not illegal under international law and is part of Sudan's criminal code.”

Nevertheless, Gambari writes, “without prejudice to its position of principle, the Government has undertaken to work in a co-operative manner with UNAMID... with a view to bringing the issue to a mutually acceptable conclusion.”

Click here to see Gambari's letter, as obtained exclusively by Inner City Press.

In the concluding paragraph of his letter, Gambari “propose[s] that the issue of the five individuals be brought to a conclusion... on the basis of the additional terms set forth in the attachment hereto... to ensure that the five individuals concerned are transferred to the relevant authorities of the Government.”

So what are the terms under which the UN, Gambari and UNAMID would turn over the five to Bashir's government?

Click here to see Gambari's and the UN's Additional Terms, as obtained exclusively by Inner City Press.

Amazingly to some, under Gambari's Additional Terms, “blood relatives of the victims of the alleged crimes will be called upon to exercise their power to waive the death penalty and seek payment of compensation in the form of 'blood money' instead.”

This in reminiscent of an incident in Geneina, multiply described to Inner City Press, in which UNAMID became involved in and even proposed the payment of “blood money” by IDPs to janjaweed who came into the camp beating up IDPs and demanding money for a person they said had been killed.

The “Additional Terms of the Government's assurances for the transfer of the five individuals from the Kalma CPC to the host country authorities” ends with assurances that “UNAMID's Human Rights Division” could visit the prisoners, and that Bashir's government will not “undermine UNAMID's ability to conduct its activities.”

But Bashir's government has restricted the movement of UNAMID peacekeepers and helicopters, as peacekeepers and civilians as in the Tarabat Market early this money lay dying. The UN's human rights divisions in Sudan have been accused by opposition leaders of failing even to come on a timely basis to examine the body of a slain Darfuri student.

(The UN says it tried, but the Government stopped it -- even if true, hardly a basis for replying on the assurances in the Additional Terms. On September 27, Inner City Press asked a series of questions to Gambari, UN Humanitarian Coordinator Georg Charpentier and Under Secretary General for Field Support Susana Malcorra, click here for article, here for video.)

In this case of the five, UNAMID would rely on “the Ajaweed traditional justice” and, again amazingly, that “the President” -- indicted war criminal Omar al Bashir -- “has the prerogative of mercy which he has confirmed he will exercise in the event that the death penalty is imposed on the accused.”

To many, this is a new low for the UN: accepting the promise of an indicted war criminal not to kill again as a basis to turn over more of his enemies to him. Watch this site.

As Sudan Starves Kalma camp and Jebel Marra, UN Has Stayed Quiet, OCHA is AWOL

By Matthew Russell Lee

UNITED NATIONS, August 6 -- In Darfur, why has the UN remained so quiet not only about Sudan blocking humanitarian aid into the Kalma camp since August 2, but into eastern Jebel Marra since February 2010?

In an August 4 response to a question from Inner City Press about restrictions and the Kalma camp, chief UN peacekeeper Alain Le Roy said that the government had blocked humanitarian groups for the four previous days.

On August 5, Inner City Press asked UN spokesman Martin Nesirky to confirm this blocking of aid. Nesirky said he would check. Since the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is supposed to have and provide information on just these topics, Inner City Press e-mailed two OCHA spokespeople, thinking that confirmation should be on hand. But hours later, OCHA replied that it was checking with people.

Still having no answer on the morning of August 6, Inner City Press asked OCHA again, and some addition questions about the discontinuation of UN reporting on humanitarian issues in Darfur, including malnutrition. (OCHA referred this question to UNICEF, to which Inner City Press has now forwarded the questions).

At the UN noon briefing of Friday, August 6, Inner City Press asked again about Kalma camp, and Nesirky said again that he would have to check. Where is OCHA chief John Holmes? Inner City Press asked, isn't this precisely the type of situation OCHA is supposed to advocate, and loudly, about?

After the noon briefing, Associate Spokesman Farhan Haq provided this answer, that OCHA confirms lack of access to Kalma camp since August 2, and to eastern Jebel Marra “since February 2010.” He said the OCHA is advocating “locally.”

First, this “local” advocacy, if it exists, has not worked: witness the continuing lack of access to east Jebel Marra for more than FIVE MONTHS.

Second, it is unclear why this OCHA would grow so quiet on this issue. Inner City Press asked, are there other situations OCHA is staying quiet about? Nesirky did not answer, and the OCHA spokespeople have yet to answer the questions Inner City Press put to them on August 5.

Nor would Nesirky confirm to Reuters the Sudan Tribune's report on the UN's “talking points” to Khartoum, nor to Inner City Press whether Khartoum has formally asked Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to turn over six people in Kalma camp it claims are responsible for the violence.

Has the UN come to any of the “full understanding of the facts” behind the violence in Kalma camp which the Security Council asked for a full week ago? You could have asked Le Roy on August 4, answered Nesirky, who on that day limited Inner City Press' questions.

The question remains: where is OCHA? Where is John Holmes? Where, for that matter, is Ban Ki-moon. Physically, he is in Japan. But where is he on the issue, of Sudan's intentional starvation of people in Kalma camp and eastern Jebel Marra?

And if this is addressed with a “statement attributable to the spokesperson for the Secretary General,” would Ban Ki-moon walk away from the statement, after a governmental complaint, as he did on the UN's statement about Kashmir? Watch this site.